Youskeh, eh?

Emoticons

2009-04-09T15:03:00.003-04:00

When I was reviewing all of my notes, I found one thing that I may have to talk about. It is Emoticons. Emoticons play an important role in message-based communication such as text messages and emails. These Emoticons differs from countries to countries. I will introduce Japan's Emoticons because I think it is better than those in US and Canada. (because I did not figure out at first and noticed that I have to tilt my face to see the face)

Happy:
(^-^)
ヽ(^o^)ノ

Sad:
(T_T)
(＞＿＜)

Angry
（＊｀ー´＊）

Hey!:
( ^_^)／

Good luck:
(○^-^)b

Boo:
（=з=）

It was very interesting to know the fact that Emoticons are different. They reflect the culture and language too because the impression and expression have a milliions way to perceive in Japanese. We use intonations to differentiate the meaning so we need Emoticons to express and support the emotions in order to avoid miscommunication by ICT. I analized that this background made Japan develop many kinds of emoticons and "emoji" (picture letters).

LOGS

2009-04-08T22:06:00.003-04:00

My search words in the search engine, firefox, are based on study. I rethought which websites I visit, and concluded that the websites I mainly visit are those on my "bookmarks toolbar". They are Youtube, Myspace, mixi, MSN Japan, Facebook, Brock, COMM2P26, Wikipedia, Twitter, Blogger, Brock Jobs, Agenda-setting theory, and Cultivation theory.

Probablly, the only websites I look at are these and those keywords appeared in my search words are study purposes because I cannot find in my bookmark toolbar. I am not saying that I am a study-oriented person, but I have been overwhelmed by school work and I do not net surf (Actually, I do not know how to do it well). So my search words are valuable to my study and also third parties as well, especially studends (COMM specifically).

I picked "gibson flying v" this time, because music is one of my hobbies.
Google
1. Wikipedia
2. Flying-V.ch
3. Gibson.com

Yahoo
1. Wikipedia
2. Flying-V.ch
3. Gibson.com

MSN
1. Wikipedia
2. Gibson.com
3. Gibson.com

As you can see, they have similar results. I guess this indicates that many people go to obtain basic knowledge and information about Gibson Flying V (guitar) from Wikipedia rather than the official website. I guess its because people seek useful information rather than commercialized and biased infromation because those who search Gibson Flying V must be concerning buying one.

It is very interesting to know how the result differs from engine to engine. and I thought the results are useful marketing data and statistics to see the social phenomena.

2P26 rocks! (commentary about the course)

2009-04-08T21:55:00.003-04:00

It's been 4 months since this term has started. It was quick.... I can't believe how fast it was. I guess this means that I have been overwhelmed by my courses, but at the same time, I have enjoyed this course.

The course content was very familiar with today's university student lifestyles and environment. The study area was not fresh for me, because I use the Internet everyday, but there are many things that I have never done or even seen before, so it was a very productive and fruitful course for me. Surprisingly, I did never get bored or tired of this course. Actually, this is my first time to fully enjoy learning COMM. Here are some I have learned through this course

Blog -->here I am typing blogs now. I have never experienced blogging til I take 2P26. It is actually not bad. Especially when I get some comments on my entries, I enjoy posting my own thoughts.

Twitter --> I have not even heard of this service. It was very very new to me. I did not think twitter is an exciting piece of social networking because I totally assumed that nobody was even interested in what I do. Howeverrr, I have got many feedback and that makes me motivated to update more about myself and check out how my classmates are doing. In the end, I came to check Twitter every single day, at least 4 times a day. This is an on-going and growing new social networking system. I am sure it will keep growing.

RSS Feeds --> I did not even know what RSS meant although I have seen it many times on my internet browser. Although I have failed to install RSS feed form twitter, I still think it is a useful infromatinos system in contemporary busy world, bcauese people still want to be informed evey hour.

My ICT --> ICTs are entertainment, leisure, socia activity, email for school or work, IM, , cell phones etc… They are base of our lifestyles that smoothen people's lives today. I have experienced living without the Internet and cellphone (homephone too) in 2008, not in 80's. Though I felt no pressure from information and friends, I felt an extream unconvenience. I would say people in contemporary world rely on ICT too much and will have a hard time to live with out any of these. As a further infromation, cellphone plays more imporant role for Japanese, because cellphones in Japan function as mobile (internet), Email (and also SMS), TV, recording TV, wallet, remote, GPS, Video Chat, pedometer, Word/Excel/PDF reader... Many Japanese people say they cannot live without cellphones. This clearly shows that our lives are based on ICT. It indicates too much reliance on ICT in the near future. It makes me worried about technology.

Technology and ‘human service’ --> People always seek more convenience and we have invented much technologies. As a result, human activities and services are replaced by ATMs, automated registers at grocery stores, big screens on campus and in retail stores and so on, for example. People are becoming more and more lazy. I am sure people eventually build automatic floting wheel chair so people will not have to walk anymore. That will destroy the importance of human activities and existence...

Social Network --> I have again took a look at my social networking. I noticed that the role of my networking does not really do much in my life. I do not rely on SNS because I have been aware of the purpose of SNS (Marketing and business) and do not like the fact that many people bother other people on SNS. My friend connection does not really reflect the real life. This means that although I have many people on my SNS, I know who I like to hang out with and who my best friend is. My network by nexus portrays that I do not have much concentrated connected ness as other class mates do, but I found that there are a large number of poeple who know each other. I analyzed the reason and came up with this answer: the communities in St.Catharines and Brock University are small and limited. Therefore, there occurs many concentrated connection among friends.

Social media and marketing --> I have also learned that social media and marketing are tightly connected through this course; or marketing created social media. It is an evolution and revolution of Social media. Many people do not know that social networking / media is created and used for marketing purposes. As a Business communication student, it was a great opportunity to know that thre are always business involved with media and sometimes business factors are hidden. In order to advance the quality of life, it is enssential to take advantage of the media for business, however, I hope they do not abuse its advantage.

Wiki--> is an useful and convenient element of information media. The most familiar wiki for internet users may be "wikipedia". I also think using wiki for developing a group discussion at different time and ad different places. Because I have had a hard time on contacting with people in a study group by email, I will definitelly make a great use of wiki for future study.

Google --> Google has been very successful on building users trust and good quality. Its search results are very reliable and credible. People use to send a snail mail to Google to get search result within 30days at most, however, it takes about 0.11 seconds to obtain results today. I strongly believe that we should not take this for granted. We should appreciate that the technology made out lives more comfortable and convenient.

Delicisous & Diigo --> They are online bookmarking service. Diigo also has extra funcitons such as highlighter and stickie notes. When I lost all of the vaforite in my webbrowser oneday. I wish I have knew this websites earlier so I could maintain my favorite online and can access to them anytime and anywhere like online email (hotmail and gmail).

Moblog; Photoblog; VideoBlog; Audioblog --> Because cyberspace became another place for us to keep data (pictures, videos, and music) and also share the data with anyone online. These types of blogs exists in SNS websites such as facebook, myspace, mixi, but these blogs introdueced in our class are specialized in each specific area. I personally do not use them, I found they will still survive in cyberspace because I found not everyone are utilze SNS. It was informative to know there are many kinds of blogs .

Linkedin --> This website was amazingly helpful and useful. I was very amazed by its functions because I have had a hard time on making resumes sicne I have not learned how to make one. I will have to apply for a job during the summer so I will definitelly rely on it.

SNS's privacy issues --> Yet SNS is useful and fun to use for mayn people, we always have to be aware of mischiefs and sexual offenders within cyberspace, because you can be anyone on the Internet. I am not comfortable with SNS's using my information for even a marketing purpose because it is still using my privacy and personal information. However, it is hard to delete my account and cut one of the useful the communication tool. So I deleted the important and personal information such as birth year and date, real name, email address etc. The only way to avoid invasion of your privacy is to protect yourself by yourself. I will be always aware of protecting myself and my information.

I also realized that Youtube, in particular, is plays a new role of music industry. Many people post their performance. As Youtube Live was held, many musicians became famous from just posting video clips on Youtube. I found that the way of sending musical talent is changing. Musicians used to sing on the street, perform at bars, join musical events in the summer etc... However, they take a great advantage of the open space online to sell their tallent and obtain the public's awareness. I am one of people who make original songs. I have a myspace but realized that it is not as popular as facebook and youtube. Therefore, I decided to post my song on Youtube when I figure out what kind of visual elements I should include.

ICT has an extreme influence and pottentials. ICT is expanding its possibility and will be the primary method of exchanging information.While I strongly want to remain and appreciate face-to-face communication, I agree that I need to keep up with the technology because people's lifestyles, technologies, and cultures are always changing. I appreciate to learn manythings listed above through COMM2P26. I will definitely make a great use of the knowledge in my future career. Thank you for teaching us with many interesting & informative thoughts, proftracy!!

Protect yourself online

2009-03-28T15:44:00.003-04:00

As the Internet use increases, it is almost impossible to avoid revealing the personal information online. Whenever you sign in to some websites, they always require you to put your private data. Typing your personal information means making your information public. Yes, anyone, from anywhere, can access your personal information at anytime, but you never know if its happening. This is SCARY. When you receive ads with your name and address in your mailbox, your information online might have been sold to the company.

I have signed in several social networking websites due to my friend's invitations. I did not even know what the websites' purposes to run this business. Last year, one of my friend, Diggory (i use a fake name since im writing online) told me that facebook is a terrible website. I did not understand what he meant until he told me some suspicions. According to him and a couple of clip that our proftracy showed us in the lecture, facebook utilizes the information that each individual put on his/her own page such as interests, favorite brands, music, films, etc. for marketing purposes. Additonally, they can segment cus by classifying facebook users by the age, gender, locations that are chosen by us on facebook. It also asks you to put your real name, birthday and year, and pictures. It appears to be very useful to have birthday alart when your friend's birthday comes by, however, your bank account, tax management, and other important tasks could include your birthday and year as your own password or something like that. Isn't it very risky? After I heard all these facts, I became very frightened and insecure. I decided to delete some of the social networking sites that I have signed in, and pictures, birth date and year, email address, real name and so on.

After all, I feel so much better. I am not lying, but I need to hide my personal information and put unnecessary information that I do not even care.

If you want to avoid information abuse online, protect yourself by yourself.

SNS

2009-03-17T14:19:00.003-04:00

Social Networking Sites does more than you expect. After watching the clips during the lecture today, I felt like deleting all the information or even an account. However, the reason why facebook still survives under such suspicion is that many people already have their connection with other people on facebook so that it is hard for them to delete the account, which means cut off connections with many people on facebook.

Although SNS connects many people, it is crutial for every user to know the policies and understand what SNS's objective is, because it is a business. They do have a purpose: marketing and selling personal information.

- I do not mind if SNS such as facebook, myspace, or mixi gather people's interests as a marketing tool as long as they do not abuse my information. However, important personal information like birthday and year, real name, phone number, address... etc can definitely be viewed by facebook and sold to other companies or government. This is a big problem for me. So I do not put my birthday, however, I put a fake birthday when my real birthday comes by so people can be aware of my birhday and celebrate it lol. I also change my spelling of my name.

-In addition, I strongly hate that facebook bothers what I do in my personal space. Once somebody put pictures which tag me, everyone knows where I was, who I was with, what I was doing, and when I did it. This is none of anybody's business. St. Catharines is such a tiny tiny town. There is nothing to do and people are bored. So they go on facebook and gossip about others. However, I just do not understand why people are interested in others. I cannot accept this fact on facebook.

- I do share my myspace URL, which I put my song on so I can look for band memebrs, unimportant information like my interests, faceborite music, flag, pictures without me in...
- I do not share my personal information, birthday, relation status and stuff, because tehres no point of noting these details online. I can personally tell people if they want to know. I rather prefer face-to-face communication when shareing culture, value, and privacy. My friends and I were actually making fun of each other by hacking facebook and change status and adding random people.

Social networking for jobs

2009-03-16T00:11:00.004-04:00

I have tried to post my findings and feedback on "social networking for jobs" on Feb 27, 2009 of http://comm2p26.wordpress.com/. However, I could not post it on it although Ive tried 4 times already. I could not figure it out so decided to post it on my blogger. This is the description:

This week’s ‘collection of tid-bits’ is themed around work/employment & social networking sites. I’d like you to find some articles/info/blog posts etc that are related to this theme; people finding work via SNS or how to use SNS for employment etc.

Here are the websites that I found...

- http://www.job-hunt.org/social-networking/facebook-job-search.shtml
- http://jobsearch.about.com/od/networking/Job_Search_Networking.htm
- http://www.asianpacificpost.com/portal2/c1ee8c441db66525011db6f5e34200c8_Networking_more_than_a_job_hunt.do.html
- http://www.workopolis.com/work.aspx?action=Transfer&View=Content/Common/ArticlesDetailView&articleId=sr20060926File1Article1&lang=EN&articleSource=SwartzRetorts
- http://www.itbusiness.ca/it/client/en/home/News.asp?id=51731
- http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Technology/Universities+turn+social+networking+sites+hook+recruits/1076193/story.html

i never realized that social networking in north ameria occupies much share on employment and job hunting. as i researched about facebook a bit before, i found that facebook is an excellent marketing tool based on what people's interests, age, gender,,, etc. so i think it is easy for companies to segment favorable possible employees in the future as well. i am pretty surprised that, now, job hunting is web bssed and is much easier for students to look for a job through social networking. therefore, as one of these website mentions, we need keep our profiles clean and reliable, because you have no idea how many and what kind of people have visited your profile or viewed pictures of you through other friends' album.

These pictures are...
LinkedIn demographics: an up-market social network and an up-market job site
Both groups contain the sort of people that are in demand, both as consumers and employees. So it’s interesting to see how LinkedIn’s user profile swings against the average for both our Social Networking and Forums and Employment and Training categories in the charts.

Myspace, Facebook, Linkedin, "Social Networking" Job Trends
This graph displays the percentage of jobs with your search terms anywhere in the job listing. Since July 2007, the following has occurred:
- Myspace jobs increased 147%
- Facebook jobs did not change or there is no data available
- Linkedin jobs increased 712%
- "Social Networking" jobs increased 153%

Ainsley's blog

2009-03-08T18:10:00.002-04:00

The blog theme she has is the one I selected at first. I like the design. As I emailed proftracy, I could not post my comment on her blog...

Her blog is simple and easy to read because its not as formal as mine. Comparing to hers, I think my blog is boring to read. lol I also liked that she put her own picture on. It makes readers to feel that he or she is actually reading "her" blogs". It feels more friendly.

I Liked LinkedIn

2009-03-08T17:12:00.008-04:00

This is my online resume↓
http://www.linkedin.com/profile?viewProfile=&key=42062753&locale=en_US&trk=tab_pro

I think this is an great tool. In my country, we have curriculum vitae form sold. All we have to do is to fill the form. So I did not know how to make a resume here and I am not quite sure yet. Because I did not know how to make a good resume, I lost an offer, working at a hotel in Niagara falls. I realized the importance of resume and appreciate to know this website thanks to proftracy.

I do not have enough information to fill it up to 100%, but it is useful for not only me but also companies to look for timely, updated easy-to-access kind of resume information at anytime. It is also useful for me to learn what kind of contents I need to put, and I should not include. I found an adobe icon on my page, I curiously clicked it, and received a printable version of my resume. I was fascinated. I need to look for a job for the spring and summer. I will be thankfully use this website for a job.

Blog, blog, blog,,, too many blogs...

2009-03-08T17:12:00.005-04:00

There exist so many kinds of blogs today such as moblog, photolog, vlog (videoblog), audioblog, and Wikipedia says that there are erog/elog (adult content), booklog (based on ISBN code), noverog... etc. I am not even close to blogging in my entire life, so i am so confused why there are soo many blogs and why there are many ppl do blogs... there must be certain reasons and demand on blogs, because celebrities in Japan are crazy about updating themselves and communiating with their fans on blogging. I personally like to make phisically existing "diaries" if I want to keep a track on what i do, but in my perspective, people want to obtain feedbacks from others reading their blogs on the internet.

Moblog - http://moblog.net/home/
Moblog is very handy and easily manage although it allows users to segment and specify the kind of mobile pics by means of "tagging". I think this is an awesome tool for those who like to update what they do in daily lives. Its main focus is quick updates rather than good quality of pictures.

Photoblog - http://www.flickr.com
I think this is very popular among people who love taking pictures. my best friend actually does have an account to post his photo work. he says its more reliable and keeps privacy than facebook. I think the biggest factor of flickr's popularity is that there are only those who are interested in or know a lot about photos whereas facebook, for example, consists many people with different interests.

VideoBlog - http://www.youtube.com
I picked Youtube as a videoblog, because it was originally made as an individually uploading and sharing video clips. Today, it is one of the most popular website existing all over the world. It also care about online offense as well. On Youtube, "defamation, pornography, copyright violations, and material encouraging criminal conduct is prohibited by YouTube's terms of service" (wikipedia.org, 2009).

Audioblog - http://www.audioblog.com/
On this website, you can not only blog about music, but also create music/videos, and podcasts too. If you want to create a podcasts, you need to spend certain amount of payment everymonth depending on the amount of contents you want to have. This is smart, but it is very obvious that their purpose is business although facebook, youtube, flickr etc do not mention business components.

- Find two corporate blogs; comment, compare & contrast. How effective or successful do you think these two examples are?

TOYOTA Open Road Blog - http://blog.toyota.com/
GM FastLane Blog - http://fastlane.gmblogs.com/

I pesronally preffer Toyota's blog design. However, it seems like there are more users on GM one because it has more comments on each post. I am not confident to say this blogging is effective for their sale, but it is definitely helpful for future Toyota or GM buyers. In addition, having blogs for automakers will definitelly makes it easier to advrtize themselfves without any costs and maintainance, because it is basically free and individual updates their posts. I think it is very useful for business.

Diigo!!

2009-02-06T01:08:00.001-05:00

Wow... i did not know bookmarking and sharing them are that advanced right now. I signed up for Diigo, which allows me to not only save bookmarks but also highlight any texts on website and save them. I was amazed by this service once proftracy brought up in the lecture. When I new this tool, I already decided to use it. Although I have sorted out all the favorite websites in my firefox and will not use Diigo bookmarking, I downloaded it just for highlighting contexts because it will definitely be a useful tool for studying for students today. However, I noticed something valuale in Diigo. If you keep all the favorites in Diigo bookmarking tool, you can use the favorites with different computers. For instance, I can only view my favorites only with my computer now, but if I put all the favorites in Diigo, I can go on favorites with my firend's comuter or computers at school. This is amazing. If I have time I will transfer all the favorites into Diigo.

I also checked Delicious.com. I did not believe the importance and convenience of it at first. I doubtfully tried it, and got addicted. I will not be signing in, but I will keep using this website to see popular websites that many people keep as their favorites of a certain matter. I could google a subject that I would like to know, but this clicking-tab-and-see-other's-favorite type of service is faster and more convenient because the number of people who added a website as their favorite tells me how popular the website is. This is an awesome website. I found 9 websites that are course related and bookmarked 5 of them. From these websites, I learned that there are several different types of social networking sites, and it is true that there are numerous sex offenders hidden in them. Hacking is also another big issue in in this matter. To live in a healthy and secure social networking environment, I thought each individual needs to be careful and have good manners online.

By using Delicious.com, it lets people to find websites that are useful and many people like but hard to find or may not come up in the first place when googling. So I can easily obtain a specialized and porpularized website in a second. This is the difference I found in between Delicious and Google. I already sought some websites that I am intereseted in such as Lexus, Japan, and Food. The websites that I view are very limited because I do not net surf and do not know how to surf well so I found this social bookmarking is a very useful tool for me. Additionally, its advantage is also a letting people know which websites are recommended and popular so this definitely helps those who do not know how to surf on the internet like me.

Twitter

2009-02-05T23:01:00.003-05:00

Twitter... I clearly remember the first time I met Twitter. I did not like and to be honest, I couldn't understand why people use Twitter. I was disgusted by the concept of it, because I thought it is just for updating what I am doing. However, I tried to use it and see how other classmates do on Twitter. Twitter gradually changed my mind. I found the practical utility on Twitter, which is obtaining answers and feedback without asking certain people. Moreover, the answers I can get are from those who are willing to give me some advice. This is awesome. It is not forcing somebody to answer my question. It is more like volunteering. I felt those who read my status and gave me feedback are so nice that they were trying to help me out. Twitter gave me happiness. I also found the fact that a person who was kidnapped could ask for a help through text messaging on Twitter. It is an awesome website. This story made me rethink of this website and got me start to Twitter.

another new tech on cell phone

2009-02-05T01:38:00.000-05:00

I just found an article introducing a new cell phone in Japan. It is called "932SH" from Softbank. SH means Sharp. This cell phone holds 3.3 inch wide VGA new mobile ASV liquid crystal display so that you can not only tansparently view "1 seg", which I blogged about TV on cell phone, but also both watch and record two different TV programs for FREE. "932SH" is also called "AQUOS cell phone", which directly inherits Sharp's high-definition display. In addition, it equips three speakers that can adapt virtial 5.1 ch and a function that automatically changes sound quality and resolution depending on TV programs. Moreover, it has a 8-mega-pixel builtin digital camera. This is no longer just a cell phone. It is not a computer either. I was amazed by Sharp's cellphone although I knew they have produced advanced cell phones. People's demand increase unlimitedly. This renders companies make "All-in-one" type of device that has numerous different functions that have as advanced quality as other independent electric devices such as TV, digital camera, portable music player, GPS, email, internet, remote controller...etc have. Technology has no end to be reached. I am afraid of being so behind and having a hard time to catch up the advaned technology when I get back to Japan...

Wiki wiki

2009-02-04T11:38:00.004-05:00

Wiki is one of the most convenient internet tool that anybody can access online. It is goof for those who seek information because wiki provides tons of data. However, it is simultaneously a negative side of wiki as well. Because anybody can access, people can intentionally alter the information and make up a false. I personally liked the idea of wiki when it is used for group discussion which was introduced by my professor. She is a expert on information technology btw. I am not a wiki user and even a well-web master. This is confusing and challenging but i am happy that I learn a lot from this. Because now I know about wiki, I would like to utilize this system for school work such as group discussion instead of having many group meetings and mutually sending email over and over. I realized this is even more confusing. It is reliable and useful when we are aware of who are sharing wiki with me. On the other hand, when an unspecified large number of people share the same wiki such as wikipedia, the credibility lacks out of the public. As long as you sign up in wiki, you can mess up the explanation on wikipedia. "wikipedia" on Wikipedia says it is the one of the serious issue that wikipedia has had. wikipedia is not run for marketing purposes since it does not include any advetizement. I think it was built just for people's convenience and wealth of life standard. However, it is true that many corporations take advantage of wikipedia that numeous online users visit and read the contents. Companies regard wikipedia as an amazing introducing and advertising companies themselves and products without any expense. They try their best to sell their strengths. I personally think wiki is good only when it improves people's convenience and quality of lives, but it is important to know that some of the inforamation is faked and biased.

I am not a heavy wiki user, therefore, I will not create one for a personal use. But as I said before, it will be one of the best tools for group work that needs individual insights and feedbacks so I would like to take an advantage of this information technology because group memebrs will no longer spend much time on "when & what time to meet up", which takes so much effort since everybody has his/her different schedule, and can ensure that the messages will be delivered to the wiki board timely. In business wise, employees within a corporation can communicate with each other on wiki as well. Additionally, customers and companies also can interact through a wiki page. This service will be a big share of internet use in the near future...

I also found this interesting wiki-type of website that several people can share and edit the information. It is called EtherPad. It may be a great tool for school work such as developing outline. http://etherpad.com/ep/about/product

Part Two

2009-02-04T11:38:00.000-05:00

I liked this Nexus application because it lets me easily see how the communities that I belong to look like and interact each other. I found that more than half of my friends are friends each other. This shows that I have many mutual friends. I interpreted this situation as a usual outcome because most of the people I have on facebook are those who I met in St.Catharines. Facebook is not popular in Japan. St.Catharines is such a small town. So it is usual that people know each other and share friends together. I personally do not put my interests, information and pictures in order to protect my privacy because it is true that people who you do not know can access to your page and view some contents if he or she was on facebook and have people in common. So I didt not see many people in the same groups. I learned that because we currently live in such a information driven society, communication on social networking site such as facebook ease and fasten our communication method even though we are far from each other and have time differnce. I have a couple of friends in Japan on facebook. Facebook email is more casual and handy than hotmail because I see their pictures, actions, information etc on facebook. I also learned that people in the same city or even in the same house utilize facebook as a communication tool. They may be just lazy to talk to them, but at the same time, facebook allows people to leave messages when they cannot see each other and even makes it easier to talk about topic that is hard to talk about in face-to-face. This is very important for people swiming in the information society, because people are getting busier and have not time. However, communicating on social network sites let people to communicate with anybody, in anywhere, and at anytime. To me it is important and I appreciate haveing the social networking site because I do not get online on msn, which means I only have two ways to communiate except F2F communication such as cell phone and facebook. In this case, facebook allows me to communiate with people I know for study and work (before) and even people I know in different countries without spending a lot of money for talking on the phone. In addtition, I can see how my friends are doing in Mexico, Japan, China, etc. Facebook is very convenient and contains so much information to share. Therefore, I also believe people need to make sure it is secure when sharing information and respect people online.

Part one

2009-02-01T17:49:00.000-05:00

this is an interesting feedback on how our relationships with people around are and how you interact with people in different levels. i saw a donut. yes, i found that i have 2 different circles (i placed 1-9 and A-T, and drew a circle based on the number and letters). a small one is made with numbers and bigger one is made with alphabets. i found that i have a big gap between my "very-close" relationships and "somewhat-close" relationships. however, i thought somehow that it is the ideal of everyone's social relationship. it is nearly impossible to make many close friends. people do not have enough time to be very very close with every single person around them. in addition, if i had many close friends, that implicates that the relationship in "very close" does not mean much. because i have few people who are very very close to me, i see more value into it. the roles in my "very close" are only family, 2 best friends, and a few very good friends. those people are whom i fully open my mind with, ask advice from or give advice to, and share a lot of my value with. on the other hand, people i listed in "somewhere close" are those who i see and chat or do school work with. this does not mean i do not like them. i like them. however, i have not talked enough to know more about them and vise versa. in ordr to develp these relationships, i need to self-disclose and spend more time with each other. this is difficult as i said that people have time limited, therefore we cannot or need to make many close friends. the ways i communicate with "very close" are mainly F2F communication and cellphone when needed, except my parents, sister, and best friend in Japan. I usually talk with them via email. I send emails to their cellphone and they send me back to my hotmail. my family do not use facebook of course, and my best friend in japan does not use facebook either, because it is not popular in Japan. instead, there is a popluar social networking website called "mixi" which allows you to access it through cellphones. cellphones in Japan is the most popular communication method. the way contact with "somewhere close" is basically on facebook becaue we do not have to or want to spend so much and effort to see each other. moreover, having a facebook account and keep them in contacts is very easieer to adjust. another thing i realized through this relationship analysis is that i don not have many very close friends is because i have been lived in 4 different counties such as Japan, Hong Kong, Bahrain, and Canada. although i make close friends, this relatioionship does not last for so long because move to another place. i guess every one has just a few close flose friends. the people i can constantly and tightly contact or hang out with are regarded as my "very close".

it is good enough to have only a couple of bestfriends rather than many many "somewhere close" friends.

Watching TV on your cellphone

2009-01-29T15:37:00.000-05:00

This is nothing special for Japanese, but I just found that this service might be available only in Japan, and thought it is one of the most advanced information technology in current world.

Yes, in Japan, you can watch TV on your cellphone. Currently, TV in Japan is Digital Terrestrial Television (DTTV or DTT), which is "an implementation of digital technology to provide a greater number of channels and/or better quality of picture and sound using aerial broadcasts to a conventional antenna instead of a satellite dish or cable connection" (Wikipedia). You can watch this DTTV on your cellphone anywhere in Japan. I saw many people using this service in subway too when I went back home for a visit this spring. This service is called "1seg" (ワンセグ Wan Segu). It a mobile terrestrial digital audio/video and data broadcasting service in Japan. It began experimentally during 2005 and commercially on April 1, 2006

I personally think it is not necessary, because I don't usually watch TV. Well, I have a TV but cable here. So I dont think watching TV is not that attractive. But couch potatoes may like it, and this is one of the advanced ICT that is actually implemented now. So I posted a blog about it.
This 1seg service is available on the most of cellphones in Japan such as Sharp, Sony, Hitachi, Toshiba, Panasonic, and other devices such as PSP and Walkman from Sony, Nintendo DS, and even a digital dictionary from Sharp.

The development of ICT is unlimited. It is hard to predict what is possible in the future. To me, anything is possible. However, I strongly hope that the ICT will not controll humans...

Social Networking

2009-01-28T15:16:00.000-05:00

Social networking can be an awesome tool to make a bigger or even more communities. Some people are crazy about putting every single detail about themselves on social networking websites. This type of communication did not exist back in 2002. Now, majority of Brock students are on "facebook", americans on "myspace", or Japanese people on "mixi". However, I am not comfortable with social networking, because it could be a worst harmful tool for you. some people say, "not everybody is interested in you" or "you think too much". But it is true that so much information flows and anybody can access to your information within social networking site unless you block privacy (which is not default privacy setting). Nowadays, I feel very insecure when I share my personal information online although I need to be on facebook since I can easilty contact with my friends and could be a great tool for group meeting or studying. My solution for this problem is "putting less personal information" and blocking my pictures. I personally believe that people are not "that" interested in other people. So we do not have to put much personal information online. Social networking in Japan is one of the factors of raping or kidnapping. Each of us carefully consider the purpose and use of social networking again, and people should nicely behave online with manners.

ICT

2009-01-20T01:40:00.000-05:00

Today, technology is everywhere around us. I found myself being surrounded by computer and it sustains people’s lives. For example, I am doing this assignment with my laptop. I used to have no laptop, but I decided to buy this laptop for schoolwork such as assignment, registering courses and taking notes. I would be having a problem if I didn't have the laptop at school, because I need to type essays, handwrite very slow, and have to quickly select courses online. Other ICTs that I often use are ATM, self-checkout machine at grocery store, cell phones, email, online Gibson library etc. I live in Canada by myself so that I need to manage my budget at my bank and ATM. It allows customers to use banking service 24 hours. The traditional way is waiting for the next day if the bank is closed. I always use self-checkout because I simply don’t like the way they put my grocery into bags. This saves labor. The traditional mean is hiring more people for cashier. I always want to put heavy or hard stuff underneath, I contact with my friend, workplace before, and dentist through my cell phone. I even had one when I was in high school back in 2002. Cell phone in Japan is more developed and has been demanded way earlier than in Canada, so pretty much 99% of high school students, a majority of junior high school students, and even some elementary school students have cell phones today. People used to use home phone. Now, people tend to have no home phone, In Japan, every cell phone has both text messages and email. I check my email everyday here. It is for keeping touch with my mother in Japan. I email directly to my mother’s cell, and she timely receives email from me, and reply to my hotmail. Its traditional mean is sending letters. It takes a week at the shortest with the express. There is 12-hour distance from Japan to Canada, but the technology shortens the space and let us tightly connected all the time. I also need Brock’s online searching system of library. This lets me search books not only at school but also home, and I don’t have to spend much time to look for books because it tells me the book is exactly stored. The traditional way used to be looking for a book with a thick book, like a dictionary, with location information. Today, ICT plays an important role for my life. I think people take ICTs for granted to be around our lives. However, I should appreciate that my life has been more convenient because of them. This tells that the current society is filled with much information. I also feel the ICTs are overwhelming our lives. People get affected by some radiation of machines, can’t figure out how to utilize the ICTs, and even get stressed because of complexity of life. We shouldn't be regardless about the negative side of ICTs.

Introduction

2009-01-14T00:47:00.002-05:00

I usually spell my name in this way so that English speakers can correctly pronounce my name. My uncle is not David Suzuki. My grandfather is not the founder of Suzuki motor.

I am from Japan. I came all way down to to St.Catharines from Tokyo alone in 2005. I have studied English for the first year of Brock in the English program, "I.E.L.P.". I am currently in second year in communication major. This is my 4th year in St.Catharines, and I am sick of this city to be honest lol, because there is nothing to do and its winter is way colder and longer comparing to Japan. However, I did not grow up only in Japan. I have lived in Hong Kong, Bahrain, Japan and Canada. I look extremely Asian, according to many of my friends, but I have lived abroad a little longer than in Japan so far. I believe I have a wide field of vision through experiencing counties' cultures. Therefore, I would like to make a great use of my background, and view how the information society flows from my perspective.